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None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.
Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?
how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.
To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.
being the seat of beauty and strength,
Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable.
Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.
my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature.
A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity.
incipient
a judgement from heaven
She was a Roman Catholic;
Justine was called home by her repentant mother.
she is now at peace for ever. She died on the first approach of cold weather,
but he never attempted to draw my secret from me;
as firmly as in the gospel,
he again taught me to love the aspect of nature, and the cheerful faces of children. Excellent friend! how sincerely you did love me, and endeavour to elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own.
The present season was indeed divine;
for you, my son, to return and be our comforter?
God raises my weakness and gives me courage to endure the worst. I leave a sad and bitter world; and if you remember me and think of me as of one unjustly condemned, I am resigned to the fate awaiting me. Learn from me, dear lady, to submit in patience to the will of heaven!”
I had begun life with benevolent intentions and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice and make myself useful to my fellow beings. Now all was blasted; instead of that serenity of conscience which allowed me to look back upon the past with self-satisfaction, and from thence to gather promise of new hopes, I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures such as no language can describe.
talked with ecstasy of our future prospects.
Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were ineffectual. I was encompassed by a cloud which no beneficial influence could penetrate. The wounded deer dragging its fainting limbs to some untrodden brake, there to gaze upon the arrow which had pierced it, and to die, was but a type of me.
sleep crept over me; I felt it as it came and blessed the giver of oblivion.
We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep. We rise; one wand’ring thought pollutes the day. We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep, Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away; It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free. Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but mutability!
Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.”
Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.
If the multitude of mankind knew of my existence, they would do as you do, and arm themselves for my destruction.
On you it rests, whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless life, or become the scourge of your fellow creatures and the author of your own speedy ruin.”
My heart was full, and I did not answer him, but as I proceeded, I weighed the various arguments that he had used and determined at least to listen to his tale.
For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness.
What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not.
discover the motives which influenced their actions.
Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the younger cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion.
I saw no cause for their unhappiness, but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched.
perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic.
if any other happened to enter the cottage, their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the superior accomplishments of my friends.
